Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. I do own any of the characters you don't recognize from the series.
"blah" speaking
'blah' thinking
Chapter 3: Leaf Snatching
After Nadeshiko left Kei, Kareha, and Ren had stuck around and talked for awhile. "We should get to the practice field early," Kei had suggested, "so there's no way anyone will get an automatic fail for being late."
Now, it was the next morning and Kei was making his way to Kareha's house, as she had not been at the spot they usually met up at, 'Knowing her, her alarm clock rang and she probably threw it across the room to make it stop, then went back to sleep.' He opened the gate of the wall surrounding her house and walked in, making sure to step over the tripwire that ran along the ground a few inches behind the opening. "Well, time to wake the dragon," Kei muttered to himself as he reached the front door and rang the doorbell.
When nothing happened after a few minutes, he rang the doorbell again and again and again, over and over in rapid succession. There was suddenly a distant bang from within the house, then the sound of heavy footfall growing increasingly louder as the person grew closer. Just as the steps sounded closest to the door, they were replaced by a loud, shrill shriek and the many thunks of many somethings hitting the floor as the person nearly killed themselves with their own trap. Kei stifled a snicker at the string of muffled curses that followed the near killing from behind the door. He heard the click of the door being unlocked and then pulled open. There was a sudden thwack as the door hit whatever sharp, pointy things had nearly killed the person on the other side earlier and the door was abruptly slammed shut again.
"Stupid kunai," was the only thing Kei could make out from amongst the muffled words on the other side of the door. It was followed by more thuds, farther away now, as the person removed the kunai from the floor and, by the sound of it, threw them at a wall. The door was then flung open to reveal a very unhappy Kareha, long red hair falling in her face to cover up her right eye and still in pajamas, "What!" she snapped. She fixed Kei with a glare that could probably make little children cry, he was sure; he figured he should be afraid for his life if she was giving him that look, but he'd been on the receiving end of Kareha's death glares far too many times for them to affect him anymore.
In fact, Kei could feel the corners of his lips twitching upward, "Morning sunshine." When Kareha continued to glower at him, Kei elaborated helpfully, "We're supposed be going to the training field." Kareha stared at him for a few seconds more as her still-not-quite-awake mind worked to comprehend Kei's words, before shutting the door again in his face. 'Why yes, I would like to come inside to wait while you take forever to get ready, thank you,' was the sarcastic remark that came to Kei's mind as he let himself in.
Kei shoved his hands in the pockets of his camouflaged long shorts and stepped out of the genkan, not bothering to take off his sandals. 'It would be a pain in the ass just to have to put them on again in a little while and I'm sure Kareha wouldn't care anyway.' Kei walked up the entry way, past a staircase in it that led to the second floor; looking ahead to find that Kareha had indeed thrown the kunai at a section of wall between two closed doors. As he drew nearer the smell of paint from an open doorway to the right of the entry way reached him. He turned left down another hall, past an open kitchen area, and then turned left again through a set of sliding doors, into the living room.
As Kei entered something caught his eye. To the left of him was a large, square raised platform; a smaller square pit was cut into the middle over which a traditional short-legged table sat. This was all set before a breakfast bar, built into the wall nearest him. Behind the table, there was a recess in the connecting wall, in it sat a Butsudan. The small shrine's doors were open and sitting in it was a picture frame that was turned down. 'It looks more beat up than the last time I was here,' Kei thought as he walked over to the shrine and lifted up the picture frame.
The picture was of a man with short, blood red hair; he had three long scars that ran the length of his face and looked as if the original wounds could have taken off the third of his skull they sectioned of from the rest of his face. The scars ran through his left eye which he held closed, the other hazel eye shone with laughter. The man had a very familiar smile, a smile Kei had seen on Kareha many times. In the picture the man had his arms around a woman with dark blue eyes and long white hair. She, too, was smiling. The glass that held the picture in had a long crack in it, Kei frowned, 'That definitely wasn't there the last time I was here.'
Kei set the frame face down again and turned around to see a pair of feet in the doorway. He followed the feet upward to stare at Kareha as she stood there holding a small bottle of strawberry milk in one hand and a katana in the other. She had an odd look on her face but it wasn't directed at Kei, it was directed at the picture frame. "If you're ready, let's go," he said.
Kareha nodded as she tucked the katana into her sash behind her and headed for the door, Kei following. They paused at the genkan, so Kareha could put on her sandals, and then left the house; Kei standing back so Kareha could reset her trap and lock her door. They walked through the yard and out the gate, closing it behind them, all in a silence that, for once, Kei wasn't comfortable with.
As the gate closed behind them, Kareha pulled the cap off her strawberry milk and took a long drink from it. Kei made a face at the milk and said, secretly thankful for a chance to break the silence, "How can you drink that stuff?"
Kareha gave him a look like the answer was obvious, "Because it's good, duh."
"Pssshhh," was Kei's reply, not believing her words for a second. "You shouldn't lie, it's not good and all, what with leading people on and everything," he added as he flung an arm around the shorter girl's shoulders and tried to discreetly snatch the bottle from her hold.
Kareha pouted, "I am not lying, you just have bad taste." She pinched his hand hard, making it withdraw, though Kei didn't remove his arm.
Kei let out a bark of laughter and rolled his eyes, "Whatever! I'm not the one with bad taste. I think you just murdered your taste buds with all those sweets you eat." He poked her in the cheek and gave her a lopsided grin, which only made Kareha pout harder. 'At least it's back to normal,' Kei thought as they continued with their usual playful arguments and sometimes not-so-playful arguments as they walked through the village toward practice field five.
Once there, they found Ren waiting for them. "Sorry for the wait, we were kinda delayed; someone didn't wake up on time," said Kei, shooting a look at Kareha, who glared at him in return.
Kareha punched Kei in the arm for good measure, before turning away from him and smiling apologetically at Ren, asked, "You didn't wait long, did you?"
Ren smiled softly back and shook his head, "No, I only got here a little while ago."
Kareha's smile turned brilliant at the words, "Good! I'm glad!"
They only had to wait twenty more minutes before Nadeshiko arrived, during that time Kareha talked and Kei only talked when he had to; and Kareha tried to coax Ren into joining in and failed spectacularly. A smile formed on Nadeshiko's face when she walked into the clearing her three students were gathered in, a timer in her hand. "Good, you're all here on time. Because if one of you didn't pass, none of you would pass," she said with a wicked grin
Kei, Kareha, and Ren's eyes grew large, 'It's a good thing we decided to come early then, or Kareha would have had us all failed,' was Kei's relieved thought, shooting another look at Kareha.
"Now lets get down to business," all three of her students suddenly gave Nadeshiko their undivided attention, "Here's how this test is going to go: I'm giving you until 11:00 am," she set the timer for four hours and set it on a nearby stump, "to get this," she pointed at the hitai-ate on her forehead, "from me."
"That's it?" Kareha blurted incredulously.
"Yep, but I'm warning you, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you'll never get it," she said, a wry smile spreading across Nadeshiko's face.
'She seems confident about that. Can she back that up, though?" Kei mused. 'Probably, she's not a Jounin for nothing after all.' He met Ren's eyes, before glancing at a clump of bushes farther away that would keep them out of sight and still allow them a good view of the clearing. Ren gave a small nod to show he understood to meet there.
"Alright then!" Nadeshiko barked, "Ready, start!" With that she hit the button that started the timer and Kareha, Kei, and Ren disappeared from the clearing.
Kareha, Kei, and Ren crouched in the bushes together, facing each other, "So, why did you want us to meet here?" Ren asked quietly. Kei and Kareha gave him shocked looks, having never heard Ren speak up without being addressed first, before.
'He must be serious about this. Good.' "Because," was Kei's reply, just as quietly, not wanting their sensei to hear, "I think we should work together to get Nadeshiko-sensei's hitai-ate from her."
Kareha and Ren gave him quizzical looks, "How come?" Kareha whispered.
"Well, I've been thinking, yesterday Sensei said only nine of the graduates will become Genin. And we've been put into three-man teams for a reason, right?" At his teammates' nods, he continued, "So, what if when she said nine graduates, she meant three teams? Don't you think that would mean we're supposed to work together? And now that I think about it, why would she fail all of us if one fails if this was based on individual ability? Unless, of course, she really is the purest of evils."
"That makes sense," Kareha agreed.
Ren didn't bother voicing his agreement, but turned to regard their sensei, who was still standing in the clearing looking rather bored. After a minute or two, he turned back to the other two and for a moment his eyes looked white. Then he blinked and they were their normal blue-white color again. "She looks strong," he said.
"H-how do you know that?" Kei asked, a bit unnerved by what he'd just seen. 'Were the Flower Boy's eyes just white or was that just a trick of the light... It was freaky looking.' Kei shook the thought away and peered at their sensei. 'How can he tell she's strong by looking at her? I can't.'
"Ah, it's because of my clan's doujutsu. I can kinda get a power rating on the people I look at with it. It's only in the first stage, so that's all I can give you… sorry," Ren explained softly, looking down at the ground, and fiddling with his hands.
'Oh, I think I've heard of that, it's called the Bunkaigan or something. So that means it wasn't a trick of the light. Creepy.'
Kareha smiled encouragingly at Ren, "Don't be sorry. Now we kinda know what were going up against. It's helpful!" Ren looked up at Kareha and her smile brightened when he smiled back. Kareha turned serious again, "Anyway, we need to come up with a plan," she said taking charge. "I know Kei's a genjutsu type and I'm a ninjutsu type. What are you, Ren?"
"Uh, I'm a taijutsu type," was Ren's quiet reply, he knew what was coming.
Kareha and Kei stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. It was Kareha who found her voice first, "Nuh uh."
"You're lying," Kei, finding his voice as well, accused. Ren's eyes narrowed and he looked back down at the ground.
Kareha looked from Ren to Kei with wide eyes, "Kei, I think he's serious."
"He can't be serious," Kei looked at Ren, "What do you do? Run around your opponent's feet until they get tire and collapse from exhaustion?"
"Kei, be nice!" Kareha scolded as she punched him hard in the arm for the second time that day.
Kei ignored the punch, "I am being nice. That was a perfectly sound question."
Kareha closed her eyes, wanting to say something in return, but knew they could not afford an argument about Kei's mocking comments; she opened her eyes again and gave the other two a hard look, "Ok, alright! We're just going to have to believe him. We're wasting time and we still haven't come up with a plan."
Unbeknownst to the plotting trio, a Kage Bushin sat high in a tree that loomed over their bushy hideaway. 'Oho, so they've figured it out already. I must admit, I'm impressed. This Kei is a sharp one,' she sighed to herself, 'But, I knew I shouldn't have said that one fails, you all fail thing, but it was out of my mouth before I could stop myself.' A grin spread across the clones face as she continued to listened in, 'Heh, they've given my some smart ones this time around. Shame, I'm smarter. But, I have a feeling this is going to fun anyway.' At that the clone made a hand seal and disappeared in a poof of smoke. So busy with their plotting, the trio down below didn't notice this, nor did they notice the corners of Nadeshiko's lips turn upward in a smile at her newly acquired information.
Nadeshiko stood in the clearing for what seemed like forever, though it was really no more than half an hour, waiting for her three students to finish planning and act. Suddenly there were shuriken coming at her from the left, right and front; she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out two folded, steel bladed fans. In one smooth motion she flicked the fan in her left hand open with a shink of mental grazing metal, revealing the fan's black silk covered ribs and the image of a full moon the color of blood in the center, and swung it backwards in an arc. The strong wind current the action produced knocking the incoming shuriken to her left out of the air. Nadeshiko swung the fan forward and in front of her, twisting with the action, catching sight of a charging Ren in the corner of her eye to her left in the process, and once again knocked the incoming shuriken in front of her out of the air.
As she turned with the swing, Nadeshiko spotted another Ren coming from above; she dropped into a low crouch avoiding the Ren on her left's high kick. The shuriken to Nadeshiko's right soared over her head and struck the boy only for him to disappear in a poof of smoke. She rolled forward and back on to her feet before twisting around and clubbing the second Ren in the back of his head with the closed fan in her right hand. He too, disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Sensing a presence behind her, Nadeshiko whirled around in time to block and parry Kareha's katana's downward slash, then kicking the redhead away in the stomach. Kareha hit a nearby tree trunk and vanished in a poof of smoke as well, a leaf falling where she had been. Another Kareha charged at her from the right just as something that felt suspiciously like fingers caught the edge of Nadeshiko's forehead protector.
Eye's widening in alarm Nadeshiko flicked the fan in her right hand open, revealing white silk and painted fringed pinks, and swung it at the person behind her as she twisted around. She was met with smoke as the person disappeared, a leaf floating to the ground where they were supposed to be. Nadeshiko sidestepped the charging Kareha and kicked her in the back, only to find it was a Bushin too.
'What's with all these Bushin?' Nadeshiko thought a bit annoyed as she ducked a slash from Kei's kunai before punching him in the stomach, just to have her fist meet smoke. 'That one too! The only real ones were the first Kareha and whoever tried to sneak up on me a while ago.'
Still in her crouch, Nadeshiko reached for some kunai and threw them at a coming Ren, who twisted out of the way, but still came at her. When he was in range Nadeshiko slashed at him with the blades of a fan, again Ren twisted out of the way, skidding past her and catching a hold of a tail of her forehead protector, before jumping away. Nadeshiko twisted around, partly to rip it out of his grip and partly to attack as she swung a fan at him to knock him away. Yet again, the boy disappeared in a poof of smoke, a leaf replacing where he'd been. 'And that one. He's not bad though and quite fast.'
The Bushin came faster and more in number now, but Nadeshiko hadn't even broken a sweat yet as she jumped back up to her feet in order to dodge a punch from a Ren Bushin before stomping on his back to make him disappear. She swung a fan around knocking away two Kareha with the wind current produced, both disappearing in a poof of smoke, one being replaced by another leaf. 'But, they sure know how to utilize Bushin no Jutsu and Kawarimi no Jutsu.'
Nadeshiko knocked away three Kei and one Ren with a fan watching as they disappeared, then sidestepped a slash from the kunai of another Kei and kicked him away, foot connecting with smoke. 'But really,' she punched a Kareha in the face making her disappear; Nadeshiko, then, closed her left fan and twisted out of the way of another Kareha's attack before clubbing her in the head with the fan, the redhead disappearing in a poof of smoke. 'If they're trying to confuse me,' Nadeshiko knocked a Kei and Kareha away, the two disappearing, 'so, they can take my hitai-ate when I'm not paying attention or something,' five Kareha, five Kei, and five Ren charged at her all at once; a rather mischievous smile spread across Nadeshiko's face as she brought her hands up and started making seals, 'they'll have to do better than this!'
Nadeshiko finished making the hand seals, yet nothing happened. She just stood there, smile still on her face; it was as if the jutsu had been a dud. Just then, the katana of a Kareha, who was coming in low, sliced through Nadeshiko, their sensei flickering and fading away.
What happened in the next few seconds happened so quickly, it is hard to put in chronological order. Very suddenly the Kareha was staring into the wide eyes of a Ren coming from above who she was about to get a face full of fist from. The Ren, in return, was about to get a face full of sword. The Kareha gave a shrill shriek, letting go of her katana which fell and clattered on the ground before hitting the ground herself, hands covering her head. The Ren, with nothing to stop his trajectory, flew over Kareha's body; watching the ground rising rapidly to meet him. Ren brought his hands up to protect his head and neck as he crashed into the ground and slid a few feet. Kei, who had been coming from behind, hadn't enough time to stop and his legs collided with Kareha's body, tumbling forward and rolling a few feet just as the Bushin collided with their originals, disappearing in one big cloud of smoke that engulfed the three.
As the smoke cleared Kareha straightened up, coughing and looking around, their sensei was no where in sight. "Wh-what the hell was that?! Some kind jutsu? I didn't even see her make hand seals!"
'Three hours! We've been at this for three hours and we still haven't gotten that damn hitai-ate! She keeps using that stupid afterimage jutsu and getting away!' Kei fumed to himself, pacing the small area Ren, Kareha, and Kei had retreated to, somewhere in a wooded area of practice field five, after their latest failure at snatching their sensei's forehead protector. All three of them were dirty and sweaty and tired looking.
"We have to figure out a way to keep her from using her hands," said Kareha.
"Yeah, but I'm running out of ideas," Kei replied running his hands through his unruly, chocolate brown hair.
"Well, we're running out of time," said Kareha, a bit frantic, "We probably only have time for one more attempt. If we don't get it this time, it's back to the academy for us."
"I know, I know! But what can we do, it's like, it's like—"
"She knows what were planning," Ren suddenly interrupted.
Kei and Kareha turned to look at Ren, surprised, "You noticed it too?" Kei asked. Ren nodded an affirmative.
Kareha turned to scan their surroundings, "I don't see her anywhere. I don't sense her near here, either."
"We should still be careful," warned Kei, before dropping his voice to a whisper, forcing Kareha and Ren to come close in order to hear him.
Up in a tree, a Kage Bushin sat, watching her three students huddled tightly together with their heads down as they worked out their last plan of attack. 'Well, it took them long enough to realize that I was spying on them.' The Kage Bushin sighed to herself, 'I doubt I'm going to get any information on their plan this time, so…' with that she raised her hands and made the seal to release the jutsu, disappearing in a poof of smoke.
Nadeshiko stood in a small clearing, waiting for her students, 'They'll run out of time if they don't hurry,' bladed fans in hand, but closed. Suddenly, she heard something crashing noisily through the brush, coming in her direction. Judging by the amount of noise the something was making, Nadeshiko doubted it was an animal, 'Unless it's a bear or something.' She hoped, vehemently, that it wasn't one of her students, either, 'Because, really, if they're trying to sneak up on me and are making that much noise, I should just send them back to the academy right now, because they obviously didn't pay attention to the lesson on stealth.'
Nonetheless, Nadeshiko stared into the trees in front of her, waiting for the thing to show itself. Much to her dismay, it was Kareha who emerged. The girl had a wide grin on her face that reminded Nadeshiko alarmingly of the girl's father. Nadeshiko glanced around, the two boys were nowhere in sight
"Hey, Sensei!" Kareha said loudly, stopping a short distance in front of Nadeshiko, "I hope you're ready, because your hitai-ate is so mine!"
Nadeshiko wanted to laugh, but her face remained in its bored expression, "Big talk for someone who has yet to even come close to touching my forehead protector. But, you know what they say? The weakest dog barks the loudest."
Kareha pouted, but her smile returned almost instantly afterward, this time, with a distinct cocky air to it, "Humph, this time is different. I do better alone." At this Kareha reached behind herself and unsheathed her katana, before charging at her sensei.
'Now that really makes me want to laugh!' "You say that, but your actions say otherwise. Obvious attacks like this," Nadeshiko blocked the katana with the closed fan in her right hand, "are pointless!" As Nadeshiko finished speaking, she kicked Kareha away in the stomach.
Kareha disappeared in a poof of smoke, a log replacing her. Nadeshiko looked around, trying to locate where the girl had disappeared to. She whirled around to face Kareha as she came from above, sword slashing downward. Nadeshiko took a half step backwards and leaned back, the blade missing her face by mere millimeters, not noticing the blade skimming over the cloth of her forehead protector; the sharp edge ripping it slightly.
Kareha landed on the ground in a crouch and lunged up and forward at Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko deflected the attack with a closed fan, and then moved to block and parry the katana again as Kareha slashed upward. For a moment, or two, there was only the clang of the metal of Kareha's katana meeting the metal of Nadeshiko's bladed fans as they moved closer to the edge of the clearing.
'It seems like she's trying to force me to a certain spot,' Nadeshiko noted as she ducked and dodged, parried and blocked Kareha's katana. Nadeshiko blocked Kareha's diagonal slash, Kareha pressing forward so that her katana grinded against her sensei's closed fan. One of Kareha's hands let go of the hilt of her sword and reached behind her, into her weapons pouch. It came back with a kunai that Kareha used to swipe at Nadeshiko's stomach. Nadeshiko's eyes went wide before shoving Kareha away.
The redhead skidded a few feet, jamming the kunai into the ground and using it to slow herself down. Kareha stood up then, and sheathed her katana; her cocky smile was, once again, spreading across her face. Kareha raised her hands, quickly forming hand seals. As she finished, Kareha took a deep breath in then shooting it back out again in the form of many small fireballs. Nadeshiko jumped to the side, dodging the fireballs. The fireballs, instead, hit a string hidden amongst the trees, burning through it.
Kareha jumped up into the trees just as smoke bombs fell to the ground around the clearing, 'A trap?' The smoke filled the area, Nadeshiko coughed, inhaling some of it. She squinted around, 'Shit, I can't see anything! I've got to get out of here.'
Nadeshiko moved to get out of the smoke, when suddenly a sandaled foot connected to the hazy form of a leg came out of nowhere, the rest of her attacker's body vanishing in the thick smoke. She took a step back, dodging it. The foot disappeared as it was drawn back, before being replaced by a fist. Nadeshiko made to catch the fist, but ended up with a fist full of smoke instead. The person attacked again, a high kick at her right this time. She twisted out of the way, the attacker, Ren, 'I'm pretty sure it's Ren's foot,' just barely missing her face.
Suddenly, Nadeshiko's legs collided with something very solid. The solid thing knocked her feet out from beneath her and Nadeshiko suffered a brief sensation of falling, before two sets of arms wound around both of hers, as Kei and Kareha, 'Masked by genjutsu, probably,' Nadeshiko noted when she found herself unable to see even their hazy forms, grabbed her.
Kei and Kareha pulled Nadeshiko to the ground and pinned her there. The hazy form of Ren appeared over her and reached down to grab her hitai-ate, when a loud, shrill bell sounded somewhere in the practice field, signaling that Kei, Kareha, and Ren's time was up.
The genjutsu dropped, and Kei and Kareha became visible. They let go of Nadeshiko's arms, allowing her up. "No, no, no, no! We were so close!" Kareha wailed, stomping her foot repeatedly from her sitting position on the ground, kicking up dust.
Kei didn't say as much, though his look of disappointment mirrored Kareha and Ren's. Ren plopped down on the ground near Kareha and then fell backwards onto his back.
Nadeshiko stood, flicking her right fan open and swung it to blow some of the smoke away. She turned and swung her fan again, blowing away some more smoke. When all the smoke had cleared away, Nadeshiko looked down at her three student's downcast faces, this time seeing them properly instead of hazy silhouettes "Well, time's up and you didn't take my hitai-ate from me. And taking my hitai-ate was a requirement to pass the test."
Her students looked up at her, eyes going wide, but they weren't looking at her face. They were looking at her forehead protector. Unnoticed to Nadeshiko, her hitai-ate leaned oddly to the side. The rip Kareha had made earlier had gotten bigger, aided by the weight of its leaf inscribed metal plate. Now, they watched as the last threads that held the cloth together gave out under the weight of the metal plate. Nadeshiko opened her mouth to continue speaking, but stopped abruptly when it suddenly fell off her forehead onto her left shoulder. It rested there for a few seconds before the weight of the metal plate pulled it down and the forehead protector hit the ground with a dull thud.
Nadeshiko stared down at her hitai-ate, stunned, 'Well, I'll be damned." She looked back up at her students and found she had to smile at their expressions against her will, 'They look so hopeful.' She bent down and picked up her hitai-ate, "Unfortunately, as the timer has already gone off, this doesn't count," Kei, Kareha, and Ren's expressions fell again. "However I must commend you on figuring out that you needed to work as a team so quickly, though the point of the test isn't about figuring out you had to work as a team. The point of the test is to see if you could work as a team." She paused then to look into each of her students in the eye, "And, you have shown me that you can."
Kareha, Ren, and Kei were silent for a while, not quite believing their ears. "So, does that mean," Kareha asked a bit hesitant, wanting to believe they'd passed, but not wanting to get her hopes up, "we're not going to be sent back to the academy?"
Nadeshiko smiled at them, "Not today."
A wide grin spread across Kareha's face as she jumped up with renewed energy. She grabbed the hands of the person closest to her, Ren, and dragged him to his feet. "Whoohoo! We're niiiiinja, niiinja, niiinja!" Kareha sing-songed, dancing around the area with Ren. Ren, in all his excitement at passing, forgot, for a moment, his shy nature and danced with Kareha; a large, toothy smile threatening to split his face. Kareha vows to see more of that smile.
Shini's Index of things to know:
Kage Bushin: (Shadow Clone) For those who don't know. Don't worry, it's not really a spoiler, just an aspect of the jutsu you learn later in part two of Naruto. Anyway, when the jutsu is released the original acquires whatever the clone(s) learn or whatever experience they gain.
Fuuton: Daifuu: (Great Wind) It's what Nadeshiko was doing with her fans. It can also do cutting damage.
Zanzou no Jutsu: (Afterimage Technique) It's like Kawarimi no Jutsu except instead of substituting yourself with something physical, Nadeshiko substitutes herself with a kind of stationary Bushin and there's no poof of smoke when it's used. The afterimage can stay there for hours, even days, as long as it isn't disturbed, otherwise it will disappear.
Bunkaigan: (Analysis Eye) The Nakamura clan doujutsu, their eyes turn white when it is activated. It's powers are penetrating vision into the body (Users can see individual organ systems and what not, and what takes place inside of them. To better explain what I mean look at the actual definition of analysis. It means the separation of a whole into its component parts). Users can also see the movement of chakra in the body; and analyzes the target's fighting style and body, and shows and pinpoints weaknesses in the target's body and fighting style. It has three stages.
Stage one: Allows the user to see the muscular system, measure the amount of muscle mass in the target, and tell which muscles are more conditioned for fighting than others and which are more susceptible to injury. Users can determine how large the target's chakra reserve is and the amount of stamina the target has. This gives the user a rough feel of how strong their enemy is.
Stage two: Allows the user to see vital organs and major blood vessels. It allows them to see the movement of chakra within the body and allows the user to determine the chakra type of the target. This gives a general idea of what type of techniques and jutsu the user can expect to be used by the target. It also shows weak spots (including blind spots) of the target.
Stage three: Allows the user to see fully into the target's body (as in, they can see everything). It allows the user to track chakra movements to predict what type of technique will be used by the target. Last, it analyzes the target's fighting style, picks up and pinpoints weaknesses in the fighting style.
The doujutsu only gives information though; it's up to the user to use the information right.
So, anyway, that's it for chapter three. Please review and tell me what you think. I hope the fight scenes weren't too horrible. This is the first time I've tried writing a fight scene. Unless you count the fight scene I wrote for the rough draft of the first chapter of my book, but you can't really call that a fight scene. XD Anyway, I tried really hard on it.
Thank you for the reviews again!
See you next chapter!